The Ford government says it is seeing signs its work to poach health care professionals from the United States after President Donald Trump’s election is showing very early signs of progress.
In the spring, the government introduced changes to the registration rules governing physicians and nurses in Ontario, allowing them to work for up to six months while their qualifications transfer.
Early data suggests more doctors may be flocking to Ontario, although it’s unclear if nurses have taken the province up on its offer.
“There are clinicians, physicians and nurses who, for many reasons, are saying ‘Maybe now is the time to look at a different jurisdiction and a different country,’” Health Minister Sylvia Jones told Global News.
“We have seen, through the licensing, the College of Nurses and the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario, increased calls — ‘How does it work? How can we get licensed?’ — And of course, now, we’ve also seen the numbers going up.”
Early data from the Ministry of Health shows an increase in the number of physicians from the United States registering in Ontario.
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So far this year, Ontario has seen 261 U.S.-based physicians move their registration to the province. Of that number, 101 were added to the system after June 5, when the government made registration changes. That means 39 per cent of the physicians who have moved from the U.S. to Ontario this year have done it since the rules were changed, a period of a little over two months that accounts for 27 per cent of the total time.
Data previously shared by the Ministry of Health suggested less than 250 physicians had been registered from the U.S. to Ontario in 2024, although officials stressed the estimates were preliminary and the data were still being finalized.
“People don’t like uncertainty in their career and in their area of expertise,” Jones said. “If they see that there is signals from the White House, from the president, that is going to make their job more challenging or eliminate it, then clearly they are going to be looking elsewhere. And we’ve got the door open.”
It seems, so far, nurses are not arriving at the same rate. The province said 1,374 U.S.-based nurses had registered so far in 2025, 243 — or 18 per cent — since the rule change.
The College of Nurses of Ontario, which handles registration, said it has “not seen a notable increase in new registrants who were US-based” moving to Ontario.
“As the year continues on, we will continue to monitor trends closely,” a spokesperson said.
During the early days of the Trump presidency, Ontario launched an expensive commercial campaign across the United States.
The government set aside roughly $52 million to run television commercials, billboards and newspaper advertisements positioning Ontario as a “secure economic partner in an insecure world.”
Although the diplomatic goals of that campaign appear to have fallen short, with officials admitting the “charm offensive” is over, the health minister suggested there could be residual benefits to the government’s American overtures.
“The advertising that is led by Premier Ford, and our government, showing Americans, showing individuals who, for whatever reason, chose to practice in the States, when perhaps they were Canadian or Ontario-born and trained, is also peaking people’s interest,” she said.
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